Indian-American Actors Michael Maliakel & Shoba Narayan To Lead Disney’s “Aladdin”
Disney’s beloved Aladdin and Princess Jasmine will be hitting Broadway in a musical at the New Amsterdam Theatre on September 28th. And we are sure excited for it because guess what – both the lead actors are South Asians.
Michael Maliakel and Shoba Narayan will be playing Aladdin and Princess Jasmine respectively and we can’t wait for them to bring alive the whole ‘Arabian Nights’ experience.
Shoba Narayan made her debut as the Wicked Witch of the East, Nessarose, in Broadway’s “Wicked!,” becoming the first South Asian American to play the role. Narayan was most recently seen as Eliza Hamilton in the national tour of the blockbuster musical Hamilton. She made her Broadway debut in the Josh Groban-starring musical “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812,” as the first South Asian female in a principal role since “Bombay Dreams.”
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Baritone Michael Maliakel (’13, Voice) was the Courtney Knight Gaines Foundation Gold Medal Winner in the American Traditions Vocal Competition in Savannah, Georgia in 2016 and has never looked back. He is making his Broadway debut after appearing on the 25th-anniversary national tour of “The Phantom of the Opera.” He also played Hemant, the Indian-American groom in the all South Asian actor Broadway adaptation of Mira Nair’s “Monsoon Wedding.”
The returning cast of “Aladdin” features four original company members in principal roles: Michael James Scott as Genie, Tony nominee Jonathan Freeman as Jafar, Don Darryl Rivera as Iago, and Dennis Stowe as the Jafar/Sultan standby. Also returning to the company are Milo Alosi as Kassim, Brad Weinstock as Omar, JC Montgomery as Sultan, and Juwan Crawley as a Genie/Sultan standby. Broadway’s Aladdin will also welcome Zach Bencal as Babkak and Frank Viveros as a Genie/Sultan/Babkak standby, both joining the Broadway cast after performing the roles on tour.
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“Aladdin” will return to the New Amsterdam Theatre on September 28th for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic shut down theaters on March 12, 2020. Don’t forget to book your tickets for the show! Click here.
